After Thai boxer Somjit Jongjohor beat Anvar Yunusov of Tajikistan in the flyweight quarter-final to secure at least a bronze at the Beijing Olympics, his wife, in tears of joy, told Thai media that the boxer has a higher and ultimate aim for his career -- a gold.

The Wednesday fight in Beijing has seen the 33-year-old Somjit sail through into the semi-final, scheduled for August 22. And his ambition has gone further than that.

His only son will turn seven on August 23, the date for his category's final. As luck would have it, or if Somjit's self- confidence and efforts would match, the boy could get an Olympics gold medal as a birthday gift from his father.

"He (Somjit) called me from Beijing about two hours before today's match to tell me to rest assured. And he told me that he would try to win a gold for our son's seventh birthday," his wife told the Thai TV NBT when interviewed after watching Somjit's victory.

The wife, with their son in arms, was seen in happy tears among a cheering crowd who gathered at their home in Pakchong district, Nakhon Ratchasima province in northeastern Thailand to celebrate Somjit's victory in Beijing.

"I was thankful that he performed so well today. He is very capable at boxing, just he had never got the chance to show it at the Olympics before," she said.

Somjit said earlier that although he had won many prizes and medals, he has always wanted an Olympics gold all through these years in the sports. It is this unfulfilled dream that has driven him to carry on with his boxing career, and he would wish he could bow out of the boxing stage with an Olympics gold.

Whether Somjit would make it through to finals, his wife was proud of her husband for his performance by far at this Beijing Olympics, which would make a perfect curtain show to conclude his over-20-year boxing career.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2008)